Two for Louise Part 1
by TGLB27
Summary: Louise is currently dating Josh (a continuation of the Two for Tina reimagining published earlier) and when she comes to New York to see him she has no idea what fate has in store for her, and her bunny ears.


Two for Louise (part 1)

Louise got off the bus and stepped onto the bustling streets of Manhattan. She was on her way to see Josh (her older sister former flame, who'd come back into town to win her back and ended up falling for Louise instead). After they'd gotten together over the summer they became practically inseparable, leaving Louise despondent when Josh has to go back to Julliard in the fall, but knowing she would be coming to New York to see him during his fall break, made those first few months of her sophomore year of high school even a little bit bearable.

She took out her phone as she exited the bus, "damn, I'm an hour early, I hope that's ok." She dialed Josh's number and waited nervously…ring….ring….

"Hello." Josh said into her ear.

"Hi. Guess what, I made great time."

"You're here? Great, where did you get dropped off?"

"I'm looking at time square."

"Great, just hang out I'll be there in like 15?"

"Ok, I'll just hit up some of these shops. See you soon sweetie." She hung up the phone and looked around, there was so much going on, so unlike the wharf where she grew up working in her family's restaurant. "Ok, where can I go." She spotted a small shop and walked over, there were paintings and small sculptures in the window and it reminded her of an art store in her small hometown called REFLECTIONS. She loved that store, and the curmudgeonly old couple that ran that place, despite having tormented them as child (she recalled one such event where she accused the owner of smelling like ointment and pee and laughed a little to herself) she'd really grown to have a soft spot for most things creative, and while her outlet wasn't exactly painting or sculpture (she was more of a wordsmith) she had a fascination with what made things beautiful.

A few minutes later her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, it was Josh. She answered and told him where she was and he said he would be there in about 2 minutes so she decided to continue perusing the store. "Is there anything I can help you with?" A plump young girl was behind the counter watching as Louise walked through.

"I'm ok right now, thanks."

"Alright, well let me know if you have any questions."

"I will thanks." Josh walked in the door a minute later, "Hey!" Louise ran over and hugged him. "Sorry I was early, hope you didn't have to run out on anything."

"No, I cleared my calendar for you baby." He gave her a kiss, "So what's up, what are you looking at?"

Louise walked back over to the painting she'd been looking at, "I don't know, but I'm loving this stuff, and this one in particular is really pulling me in." She moved over so Josh could take a closer look, and he smiled. "What?" Louise asked.

He smiled again, "It's nothing, it's just…"

"What?"

Josh laughed again, "The painting kinda looks like you."

Lousie laughed out loud, "Oh please." The painting was an abstract, lots of geometric shapes, but it was clearly a person, a beautiful brown eye, and background swirled with lime green and pink. She looked and realized that several pieces had similar colors and focused on a central subject that did appear to be a girl. Louise walked up to the counter, where the girl was still sitting. "Excuse me." She said

"Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, just a question, do you have a lot of art from the same artist in here?"

"We do, it rotates out, but those sections you've been looking at, as well as the three pieces in the window are all by the same artist."

"Cool, thanks." Louise went back to the painting and scanned it again. Then she moved over to the window display, where a third smaller painting was, it was a white background with three items painted, but not an abstract, these items were portrayed very realistically: a door, a black Maryjane shoe, and a pink bunny ear hat. Louise's heart jumped, and in the corner of the painting she saw three initials LBB.

Logan Barry Bush sat in his apartment, the TV was on but he wasn't watching, instead he was thinking about his next project, and how he could use it to win back the one girl he'd let slip through his fingers. The store in Times Square had taken pity on him, and allowed him to put some items up for sale, and to his (and their) surprise the paintings and figures were selling quite well. So with a little extra money in his account he was able to quit one of his part time jobs (of which he had three) to focus a little more energy on his art. He'd left the Wharf for good last year after he'd graduated from college, and when he did he left his then girlfriend behind as well. Logan was convinced he would become a famous artist and wouldn't have time for a high school girl once he got his big break and was surrounded by fellow passion filled artists like himself…oh how wrong he was…about all of it. The funny thing was that Louise (his girlfriend) came out in everything that he did, and those painting and sculptors were better than anything else he's ever worked on. He decided that the best way to show her that he still cared for her was to create something amazing and enter it in the Art Crawl the following month (the Art Crawl was an annual festival put on by the Wharf where local artists could display and sell their art at any business establishment that was willing to participate). The problem was that all of his best efforts were for sale in the little art store already, and he was having a horrible case of, for lack of a better term, artists block.

He decided to walk down to the shop and see if he couldn't get back a few pieces to bring back home to the Art Crawl, it was only a week away, and there was no way he was going to be able to create something great in such a short period of time.

Louise stood at the window of the art store looking in the window. "If you want it, I can get it for you?" Josh asked putting his arm around her waist.

"No, no, that's ok. I just think it's kinda sweet, and (she thought about telling him about the initials and how she thought the painting might belong to a certain pig headed ex-boyfriend she had, who did leave her and come to New York to become an artist…but then decided, probably not a good idea), umm it's just funny because I had ears like that when I was little."

"I remember." Josh said squeezing her hand. Back then Josh had been completely enamored with Louise's older sister Tina, and looking back on it, it was kinda funny, but he never thought the little 9 year old girl with the bunny ears would one day become the object of his affections. "Hey, you hungry?"

"Yeah actually, but I was kinda hoping we could head to your place so I could leave this somewhere?" Louise gestured to the rolling back sitting on the sidewalk next to them. "It's not exactly my idea to be lugging around a giant MUG ME bag all day."

"I gotcha, why don't you go chill on that bench over there, and I'll be right back, we can snag the bus, just gonna grab a water from this shop."

"Ok." Louise walked over to the bus stop, her bag behind her, and sat down. She thought about Logan and wondered if it was possible that he really did those painting and things with her mind, or if those pieces were even really his. _Get a hold of yourself Louise, it's all in your freakin head. _She took out her phone and dialed….ring…ring…

"Helllllooooo." Louise's mother practically sang into the phone.

"Hi mom." Louise said

"Oh, my baby, how are you sweetie, did you make it ok, are you with Josh, what's going on?"

"Yes, I'm here, everything's fine, and yes I am with Josh, I'm just waiting for him to meet me at the bus stop so we can head over so I can drop my bag off at his house."

"Bus stop, what bus stop, why are you alone. Bobby…she's at a bus stop….." Louise could hear the distant gurgling's of her father as her mother continued to talk to him without taking her head away from the receiver, and she smiled.

Just then Josh came back over and sat next to her, he leaned down over her bag, but Louise was still trying to get her mothers attention, so she didn't really see what he was doing, but when he sat back up he was sipping a water bottle. He stood up, "Bus is coming." He gestured for her to hang up.

"Oh, mom, I gotta go now. Yeah, I know, well the bus is coming so I gotta go. I will, I know, Ok, I love you guys too, tell Gene if he goes into my room I'll kill him. Yeah, ok then, bye bye." She hung up the phone and stood up. "Sorry, parents."

"It's cool. Let's go." Josh grabbed her bag and they got on the bus and headed toward his apartment.

Logan walked into the art shop about ten minutes after Louise had left, he noticed that some things were new, and that some of his things had been purchased, but went up to the counter anyway. There was no one there, but he rang the little bell and waited for the attendant to come out.

Logan leaned on the counter and faced the door, "Can I help you?" The attendant said as she settled herself behind the desk. When Logan turned around she blushed slightly, "Oh, Mr. Bush, I'm so sorry I didn't know it was you. What can I do for you?"

"Actually, I was kind of hoping I could buy a piece or two of mine back from you today, I just had two in mind, I want to give them to my mother."

"Oh of course, anything we have out is still available, please look around, and you don't have to purchase your own work back, in fact, we have a few checks for you, some of your items really flew off the shelves."

"Really?" Logan definitely excited to hear that.

"Yeah, in fact something just went a few minutes before you came in, oh I wish you'd gotten here sooner, what a treat that would have been for the patron."

"Yeah, too bad, well anyway, one of the pieces was pretty specific, white background, and some children's things lying on the floor in front of a door? Does that sound familiar?"

"Oh, My God, I'm so sorry, you won't believe it, but that actually just sold?"

"You're kidding?"

"No, he was just in here a few minutes ago, I think his girlfriend really liked it, she even asked about it before they left, then he snuck back in here, cute kids, probably about your age, maybe a little younger."

"Hmm, damn, I was really hoping to get that one." Logan leaned on the desk, and smiled up at the attendant who blushed again, "I know this is really bad of me, and I'm sure it's against the rules, but do you have any idea where that person was from or a name? address? Anything? I really wanted to give that piece to my mother, and I'd love to buy it back from him."

The girl looked around tumultuously, "You're right, I'm not supposed to give out information, but since you're the artist, I'll do you a solid. He paid with a credit card, give me two minutes." Logan winked at her and she disappeared into the back of shop.

A few minutes later the girl returned holding an envelope, she passed it along, and said, "I hope you get it back."

"Thanks." Logan walked out of the shop and opened the white envelope, inside was a single post it with an address and apartment number written on it. Logan noticed that it wasn't too far from his own place, so he started walking. 


End file.
